


The Complicated Sorting Of Percy Weasley

by Realsupergirl



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-26 19:57:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20747882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Realsupergirl/pseuds/Realsupergirl
Summary: Percy Weasley winds up in Gryffindor, but does he really belong there?





	The Complicated Sorting Of Percy Weasley

The Complicated Sorting of Percy Weasley

Percy had been looking forward to going to Hogwarts for YEARS. He’d watched his older brothers Bill and Charlie go off and they always seemed so cool, so adventurous, so strong, so brave. He wondered if he would be as brave as they would be when his time came, he prayed he would be.  
Secretly, though, he worried he wouldn’t be.  
  
Charlie was the one who always rescued the house from gnomes and once when they found a baby acromantula on the twins’ crib, he was the only one who could go in and grab it, carefully take it out of the room, and cast an excellent Banishing charm to send it unharmed and far away. His mother had just squealed and called for his father, who squealed as well, and Bill had suggested they call the Department of Magical Creatures to dispose of it. Charlie didn’t even seem worried or bothered. He’s always had a way with animals, even scary and really rare ones.  
  
Percy wanted to be as brave as Charlie or as smart as Bill. He knew his mother and father were expecting him to be both.  
  
Every Weasley in his family had been in Gryffindor, and almost every Prewett on his mother’s side. His mother always used to hint that her uncle Ignatius was a Slytherin and that was why he married into the Black family, but Percy had never met him.  
  
So when Percy Weasley, now eleven years old and fresh off the Hogwarts train for the first time, sat down on the stool and placed the sorting hat on his head, he was very surprised that it didn’t immediately call out “Gryffindor!”  
  
He stared out at the long tables and tried to avoid his brothers Bill and Charlie at the Gryffindor table. Bill’s Head Boy badge seemed to glow in the moonlight streaming through the dining hall windows. It felt like a spotlight had been cast onto Percy’s head and the whole room was watching him.  
  
Finally the Sorting Hat began to speak.  
  
“Ah, another Weasley…but a different sort of Weasley.”  
“I’m not so different,” Percy pleaded inside his head. “I’m brave just like my brothers.”  
“You are not as brave as you think you are, but you are as smart,” the Sorting Hat said matter-of-factly. “But bravery is not the only quality worth emulating.”  
“Don’t put me in Hufflepuff,” Percy’s voice fell an octave, he was getting angry now. He’d never live it down if he was put in Hufflepuff.  
“The House of Helga Hufflepuff has many great qualities, as she was a noble and most excellent witch, herself,” The Sorting Hat said haughtily, “But it was Ravenclaw I was considering, because as I said, you are smarter than any of the others, you just don’t know it yet –“  
“I’m not that smart!” Percy yelped. He thought of all the times Bill and Charlie thought of the answer to some wizarding history question of ministry policy dilemma his father had brought home to share with them.  
  
“Smart is not the same thing as knowing facts,”The Sorting Hat said in response to hearing Percy’s thoughts.  
“…but as I was going to finish,” The Sorting Hat sounded very annoyed now, “There’s something else here. A thirst to prove yourself, an eagerness to defend your family’s honor from all the badmouthing it has received.”  
  
Percy’s face flushed red and a deep shame came over him as he recalled the fit he threw about having to wear Charlie’s hand-me-down robes and use Bill’s old text books and broom. He’d hidden them all deep inside his brand new trunk – he had to get a new one because Charlie and Bill were still using theirs – and vowed to only take them out when he was alone in his dorm, though privately he wasn’t sure that realistic that was. But he could still see his mother’s sad, disappointed face as she kept repeating “we just don’t have the money, dear.” He knew it wasn’t their fault. They worked as hard as they could and made do with so little.  
  
“Slytherin could help show you how to do this better than all the others…” the Sorting Hat continued on, and his tone sounded silky and smooth like he was selling Percy something.  
“NO,” Percy said loudly, and a glance around the Dining Hall told him this was the one thing he had definitely said aloud, causing him to feel even more embarrassed.  
“Are you sure?” The Sorting Hat continued on, not missing a beat. “I can see it all here in your head…”  
“No,” Percy thought fiercely inside his mind, “Not Slytherin. I want to be in Gryffindor with my brothers.”  
“If you’re sure…”  
“I’m sure,” Percy had never felt more sure about anything in his life.  
“GRYFFINDOR!” The Sorting Hat boomed out, and Percy could hear the Gryffindor table erupt into cheers as he placed the Hat back on the stool and walked over to join them.  
  
He’d done it. He was here. He belonged.


End file.
